Spencer Rattler Silences Doubters with Stellar First Start - Saints Chose Right
The New Orleans Saints were faced with a tough quarterback decision after Derek Carr shockingly entered retirement earlier this year. That left the Saints with Spencer Rattler, Tyler Shough, and Jake Haener at quarterback.
This led to a very tough quarterback battle, mostly between Rattler and Shough, that went back and forth throughout the preseason. Most expected Shough to get the nod because he's a rookie and the Saints don't have anything to lose. They're not a Super Bowl contender with either option under center.
But the Saints opted to start Rattler, and it's already looking like a good decision. The young quarterback looks quite impressive in Week 1, despite the Saints' loss.
Bleacher Report's Brent Sobleski recently shared some solid praise of Rattler and graded his Week 1 performance as a "B."
Spencer Rattler earns "B" grade for Week 1 performance
"After trudging through a quarterback competition where no clear winner really emerged, the New Orleans Saints moved forward with Spencer Rattler as QB1," Sobleski wrote. "Based on his Week 1 performance, the team made the right choice, even though the organization didn't register a win against the Arizona Cardinals. Rattler always displayed tremendous natural throwing ability. His biggest issue stemmed from making a critical mistake at inopportune times.
"He refrained from any major errors Sunday and provided a clean performance with no turnovers. The sophomore QB also placed his team in a position to tie the game late in the contest, though tight end Juwan Johnson wasn't able to secure a well-thrown pass into the end zone with five seconds remaining."
Rattler was solid through the air, but he was forced to throw the ball well over 40 times because the Saints were losing for the entire game. But he stayed calm and composed throughout the contest.
Rattler even led the Saints on a potential game-tying drive that ended with a Juwan Johnson drop on a potential touchdown pass. Rattler placed the ball in the only spot Johnson could catch it, but the veteran tight end let the game slip between his hands, although the catch would have been very impressive if he pulled it off.
Still, Rattler looked impressive. It seems like the Saints made the right choice at quarterback.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
